Continuity management has long been tied to disaster planning and crisis response as fundamental to emergency planning but the reality is: If you’re just practicing business continuity to survive you’re never going to get much out of it.

The key to effective value creation from continuity management is a strategy that builds on how the day-to-day business is designed to create value. Today’s global market puts us all in crisis. Corporate directors are in jail. Cyber terrorists can easily hide across borders around world yet still access information kept locked away. States and countries declare bankruptcy. Instability is everywhere.
Businesses are so interdependent on one another that supply chain and technology are complex grey zones of value and accountability. The bottom line is the business needs to create value to survive. Maybe value means money, maybe it’s customer satisfaction or maybe it’s serving its nonprofit goal. Regardless, the creation of that value must be the crux of your resilience plans.

One of the most common misconceptions of business continuity planning is that it starts with a disaster and in a lucky world no one would need a plan. Luck favors the prepared. A business with a healthy continuity management program doesn’t just survive crisis; it thrives daily. The reality of the business world is that every day is more complex and risk loaded. In order to work toward corporate maturity and institutionalization of the systems that create value you have to structure and live your plan.

Many executives ask themselves: “I know the basics about critical processes and mission-critical systems but what can I do to really make a difference in our ability to consistently exceed our customer’s expectations?”

One way is to focus on increasing your business value and to sustain that value regardless of expected or unexpected circumstances. Below are 10 planning actions that you can take to support your mission critical value proposition.

10. Don’t be satisfied with a computer backup plan. When your clients ask what’s the #1 reason they should use your company, do you say it’s your technology? Probably not. Why are you relying on technology to save you in a disaster?

9. Ask questions. What are your employees doing in their personal lives for emergency readiness? What are their concerns? How can you help them?

8. Talk about operational risk and continuity management in business strategy meetings. Talking is the first step to integrating it into the corporate culture.

7. Don’t count on vendors to pick up your slack in an emergency. If it’s not written into your contract don’t put it in your plan. Even then, always have a backup plan.

6. Know when to say there’s a problem. Chances are you’re not going to be the one to first notice something is wrong. If you are ignoring business deficiencies, others are too.

5. Know your emergency response plan. Every natural hazard has a professional group that monitors it and knows how to respond. The response plans are usually free online. Get a good plan for the basic natural disasters in your area. Keep it simple and your bases covered.

4. Don’t focus on the fear. It’s easy to look at the unlimited disaster scenarios and get overwhelmed. Instead look at what’s really important – a strong business plan.

3. Make a list of what is really important to your business. Keep it short – not more than ten points (tops!). Share it with everyone – your boss, your employees, your clients, your partners.

2. Build relationships with three key responders. This could be your local police department or a critical vendor. The point is being on a first name basis with the person who has the answers you’re going to need during your emergency.

1. Create a solid employee communications plan and test it quarterly or more often. People are your greatest asset; know how to connect with them. Set standards and make them clear.

Still unsure or need help developing a road map to make your path simple? We’re here for you. Call now for a free consultation. 888-297-PLAN

Operational risk has eclipsed credit risk as national banks’ chief safety and soundness challenge, Comptroller of Currency Thomas Curry told the Exchequer Club in Washington, D.C., last week.

Operational risk – the risk of loss due to failures of people, processes, systems and external events – is “high and increasing,” Curry said. He cited flawed risk models, lack of adequate controls over third party vendors and anti-money laundering efficiencies as some examples of operational risk.

“[A]s banks and thrifts face greater resource constraints and higher compliance costs, they may feel greater pressure to economize on systems and processes in order to enhance their income and operating economies …,” Curry said. “All institutions … must resist the temptation to under-invest in the systems and controls they need to prevent greater risk and larger losses in the future.”

He emphasized the risk of operational failure is embedded in every activity and product – from a bank’s processing, accounting and information systems to the implementation of its credit risk management procedures.

“No issues look larger today than operational risk in all its dimensions, the manner in which all risks interact, and the importance of managing those risks in an integrated fashion across the entire enterprise,” Curry said. “These themes are a supervisory priority for us at the OCC today and they should similarly command the attention of the industry.”

Just like a simple checklist for car or home maintenance, your business needs emergency management maintenance as well. For your convenience here’s a Business Service Checklist that I developed for my use. It fits on a single page all the business maintenance tasks that need regular attention, but which are forgotten easily. I hope you find it useful! Please add your own recommendations in the comments section.

Every 3 months:

Check first aid kit, replenish supplies as necessary.

Check employee roster to make sure numbers are correct.

Drill generator or back up power capabilities.

Every 6 months:

Test your crisis communication plan.

Exercise your plans.

Hold mock evacuation of your facility. Invite local fire department to take part and give recommendations.

Have local fire & police departments do a walk through of your facility. Each brings a unique and new perspective to safety, vulnerabilities and security improvements. This also keeps you in touch with the people who would be responding to emergencies at your facilities. During an emergency is NOT the best time to get introduced!

Employee safety training & awareness – choose a specific day every year to employee safety and awareness. September is National Preparedness Month and is ideal. There are various activities to take part in across the nation. Many service providers host free seminars and offer preparedness kits. Hold your own personal and professional prep seminars. Make it fun! Hold safety competitions, get employees involved. Recognize employees or departments with high safety track records. Distribute resources like home safety kit fact sheets. Highlight office safety initiatives like reporting spills, extinguisher training or expert audits.

Given that you agree with the recent post on every business having the same four core values . . . let’s continue our discussion.

Here’s a diagram for visualization: Business Value Balance. Each operational value exists in a spectrum (generally from happiest to least happy). Depending on the current score for each value on their respective spectrum, business is probably good. Referring to the chart, you can see the business as the core, four-pointed star. When the staff is happy, the customers are happy, the business is generally likable and its making a profit the business is sustainable.

There’s another star, too: a red, eight-pointed star. The eight-pointed star is the zone of risk tolerance. If you chart the scores of the four requirements for sustainability within the level of tolerance, it’s holding steady. If the level of value isn’t meeting or exceeding the least tolerable level, then its a problem. Simple enough. When one or more of the scores exceeds the level of tolerance, the business will naturally look for ways to move back toward a balance.

HERE’s THE CATCH: How the business finds its way to pull one score back to center could happen at the cost of another value. And, if no one’s managing the balancing act, it will be at the cost of another value. They’re all interrelated so they will all be effected.

If you don’t have plans to deal with keeping the four basic core values in balance, business ends up looking chaotic. It is constantly in flux, always pulling and pushing at itself. Costing the happiness of staff, the happiness of clients, likability and profit. This diminishes sustainability and resilience.

Next blog: keeping the business values at the center of your continuity program.

Like this:

Rivulets are those tiny droplets of water that join together and move in a common direction. After lots of movement over time these little streams can really impact their environment in significant ways. They begin to shape valleys and eventually build canyons. We have rivulets in our lives and it is my sincere belief we have rivulets in our businesses. They are the little behaviors that eventually tip into culture and build our character and legacy.

Business rivulets start with people. Managers leading encouraging, motivating little streams to run in certain paths. Perhaps invisible at first, over time erosion is clear. What does this have to do with business continuity? Everything. Rivulets form shape of your resilience. Day after day they reinforce or degrade direction, efficiency and speed. Contingencies are initially built-in as the path of least resistance but leaders can design them to create value and build character. What canyons are your rivulets building?

It’s astonishing in it’s simplicity. The business often gets left out of disaster recovery and the resilience picture. Disaster recovery is the continuity of your information systems but you certainly can’t recreate your business with simply a server. That server has to live somewhere, it needs people to love and care for it and it needs a purpose. Your IT manager cannot determine your purpose. It must be held in the core vision of the organization. Your plan needs the core competencies of your organization – how you create value. This is the deliverable for the Business Impact Analysis process. Don’t leave yours out!